Holness urged to clean house

Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader Prime Minister Andrew Holness is being urged to go to today’s meeting of the party’s Central Executive with political guns blazing, ready to crack the whip at the executive and officers, remove members whose time has come, and install effective persons in their stead immediately. Or he could, instead, do a slow walk to his political death at the next general election.

Today’s Central Executive meeting is the first since the February 26 local government elections (LGE) and is the JLP’s highest decision-making body outside of annual conference.

It comes two months since the party limped to the finish line of the local polls elections, losing more electoral divisions than it won. It is being billed as a “decision meeting” and is expected to result in a long-hinted Cabinet reshuffle.

But at least one political commentator is urging the JLP leader to forget a Cabinet reshuffle and to focus on “making the members in Cabinet with cutting-edge things to do become more effective”.

One well-placed JLP source told The Sunday Gleaner that Holness must come to the meeting with an “endless agenda and [should] close the gates at Belmont Road, allowing no one to leave until matters are settled, however long it takes”.

One man said to be marked for today’s meeting is JLP Chairman Robert Montague.

Party sources say he is being blamed for the dull showing in the local government elections, especially as he lost three divisions in his constituency and the mayorship of Port Maria.

Derrick Smith is a former member of parliament (MP) of St Andrew North Western. He served the majority of his time as MP in Opposition, but served in two ministerial positions before retiring in 2018.

“This is the first meeting since the LGE, which the party barely scraped through, a slight victory, which is obviously a wake-up call for the party, having been in Government for eight years and the results show obvious slippages in various areas throughout the country,” he said.

“My charge would be to the officers, the general secretary, chairmen, deputy leaders and area council chairmen. I would say, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, it’s approximately a year before the general election. The results we were expecting in February we did not get. You all know the principles of winning an election. We have won many elections, and you have got to get out there and do the basics …’ ,” he said.

Smith said Holness should call officials to book and crack the whip for them to work.

‘Give the workers the message to sell’

He said work must start in the grassroots level and in the political trenches, beginning with enumeration for daily, weekly, and monthly checks, and visits with the workers.

“You must be able to give the workers the message to sell. That message is that your Government has performed, by any measure. There might have been some errors along the way and all governments make errors. You have that as an advantage over an Opposition who all they have been able to do is talk, talk, talk. Say to them that the Opposition has talked and we have performed. Get out there and do the work. This is the charge that I would give him, them,” the retired politician told The Sunday Gleaner.

He said Holness should clean house, starting with those who have overstayed their time.

“There are some changes to the structure that need to be looked at. Some candidates in constituencies, some of them, have they overstayed their time? Do we need to change some of our candidates? Monthly, quarterly audits must be done of each constituency and a charge levied on the chairman, and as far as I am concerned, the party is in a good place to win a third term,” suggested Smith, adding that those who have not performed should also be replaced.

“We have time for that, and that must be an issue the prime minister put on the board to the officers,” Smith stated.

But he did not name any individual.

However, among those party sources said to have overstayed their time is current Justice Minister Delroy Chuck as MP, and minister; Karl Samuda; Lester Mike Henry; J.C. Hutchinson, and others, a significant number of whom are part of the old guard and the backbone of Holness’ support.

It has also long been felt that Audley Shaw’s time has come and gone, but like the others, there is no departure timeline.

Only Everald Warmington had stated his intention to quit party posts after he was booted from the Cabinet, but he made an about-turn. The Sunday Gleaner was reliably informed that “he was asked to show someone the ropes on becoming chairman for Area Council 2”.

JLP sources say Sport Minister Olivia Grange should make departure plans as MP, and “only Edmund Bartlett should be retained of the older lot”. Other ministers who should be exiting the process, JLP insiders say, are Marlene Malahoo Forte, minister of legal and constitutional affairs, and Dr Horace Chang, minister of national security.

Several MPs, including some first-term representatives, should also be asked to leave, according to the insiders.

Make Belmont Road relevant again

Businessman and attorney-at-law Howard Mitchell said Holness should not focus on a reshuffle but instead “he should focus on making Belmont Road relevant again, making it meaningful to the members of parliament and they should focus on the Central Executive doing what it is supposed to do, which is to provide support to the structure of the party, which is an engine designed to win power, and they have not done that. They have left the backbenchers and the MPs out there by themselves,” argued Mitchell.

He said the party must look closely at the Central Executive and its role in keeping the party connected to the ground. Mitchell said there was a disconnect among the party, the Central Executive and the ground. He said the changes of personnel should take place at this level.

Mitchell has called Belmont Road a political “sepulchre”, saying it must become party central.

“It must become the centre of the party’s strategy. Without that, the party’s tentacles cannot reach anywhere. If that doesn’t work, the core will not work,” he stated.

The outspoken businessman bemoaned the lawlessness across the nation and the impact of 50 to 60 years of migration of some of Jamaica’s brightest, most ambitious people, who were not confined to political parties.

Noting that the country was making unforced errors, he said persons are looking outward because they see no hope here.

“Leadership has failed to build its citizens’ belief, and it goes to the fundamental function of leadership and fundamental responses of the society. The indiscipline, lack of belief in anything, individualised behaviour, those things are inimical to effective actions and effective outcomes. The JLP is making more than its fair share of unforced errors and, some may consider it superficial, but I feel the party has lost its way,” said Mitchell.

He said the party has run into difficulties as it was “never big on a philosophy, though it was supposed to be the party of the ordinary people”.

“Now, it’s not even the party of the big man anymore. It’s a loose aggregation. That’s the problem; they need to sit down and review how they execute their purpose, because right now, they’re not executing anything well. And it has nothing to do with Cabinet. It has to do with the ability to get on the corner … ,” argued Mitchell.

Citing Robert Morgan’s comments that the Speaker’s letter to the now-retired House Clerk Valrie Curtis was not important to the people of his constituency, Mitchell said the comments were “contemptuous of the people”.

He urged the party to examine the root causes of its current predicament, “rather than crying conspiracy, bad mind, unnecessary criticisms and people not recognising the good things that were done”.

Like Smith, he said that many of the current crop of JLP legislators “need to go home”, but did not name anyone.

He also acknowledged that great things have been done and are being done and lauded the Government’s expansive and welcomed infrastructure development programme. However, he suggested that miles of good roads provide no comfort to hungry people.

Mitchell said he has used the price of a pound of mackerel to “judge affordability” over the years, and he said it is currently priced out of reach.

“They better see the reality quick, quick for time out,” he urged.

Meanwhile, another well-placed Labourite is urging senior party members to stop quarrelling with Jamaicans.

“Stop quarrelling with the people who you want to vote for you, including civil servants. Every day you get up quarrelling with people and picking unnecessary fights. Why? When you are not fighting with them, you are fighting amongst yourself. Why?

“Holness is much weaker now, politically, than in 2016, and has lost nearly all his political capital. They need to rally around the leader and stop fighting each other, inside and outside the party,” he said.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com